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OPINION

Courageous votes of Heller, Amodei: Randi Thompson

Randi Thompson
Published 10:12 a.m. PT March 1, 2018

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President Trump took his tax pitch to a conservative think tank on Tuesday, arguing that his plan would be a boon to the economy, boosting growth and jobs. Trump spoke at this year's Heritage Foundation's President's Club meeting in Washington. (Oct. 17)
AP

I have been talking about the need for tax reform in this column since 2012. Six years later, I’m quite happy to thank Sen. Dean Heller and Congressman Mark Amodei for voting on a tax bill that is helping give birth to one of the strongest economies in the past half-century. And I have facts to back up that statement!

The strength of our economy is nowhere better found than in the National Federation of Independent Business’ latest Small Business Economic Trends report. (Full disclosure: I am state director for NFIB.)

NFIB has published its SBET report since 1973, which looks at fluctuations in economic activity among the Main Street enterprises that employ most working Americans (and gave most of us our first job!)

Used by elected officials from the local to the national level, the SBET is the “largest, longest-running data set on small-business economic conditions available,” according to NFIB’s history of the SBET. It is a survey based on research questions that address business operations rather than opinions.

“We’ve been doing this research for nearly half a century, longer than anyone else, and I’ve never seen anything like 2017,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “The 2016 election was like a dam breaking. Small-business owners were waiting for better policies from Washington, suddenly they got them, and the engine of the economy roared back to life.”

In short, the strength of this economy is wide, deep and apparently built to last. And it was all by design.

President Trump started the economic ball rolling by requiring federal agencies to kill two regulations for every new one they wanted on the books. He went on to sign 15 congressionally passed cuts in regulations.

Businesses, especially smaller ones, felt the regulatory relief almost immediately. Would it finally be financially possible to hire more employees, buy equipment and expand a business? If there was a remaining doubt, the tax bill removed any lingering worry. It would be tough to find a Nevada small-business owner not materially benefiting from the tax bill now.

Last month, NFIB issued a jobs report with a headline that pretty much summed it up: “Small Businesses’ Plans to Increase Compensation Reaches Highest Level in Nearly 30 Years.”

That Senator Heller and Congressman Amodei stuck to their guns in voting to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was nothing short of courageous, given the drumbeat of criticism and theatrical outcry from the usual suspects, which seems to grow ever louder in our media-dominated, hypercommunicative age.

It’s no news to anyone that President Trump’s style is unlike any we’ve seen. For many, he can be a polarizing figure, but one thing remains indisputable: When it comes to the economy, he, Senator Heller and Congressman Amodei are on the side of Nevada’s Main Street, mom-and-pop firms and the working men and women they employ.